How popular is the baby name Ester in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ester.

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Popularity of the baby name Ester


Posts that mention the name Ester

Popular and unique baby names in Sweden, 2024

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

Last year, the Scandinavian country of Sweden welcomed 98,451 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Alma and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Alma, 568 baby girls
  2. Alice, 565
  3. Olivia, 552
  4. Elsa, 550
  5. Vera, 546
  6. Saga, 486
  7. Selma, 484
  8. Astrid, 473
  9. Ella, 472
  10. Signe, 458
  11. Freja, 455
  12. Ellie, 454
  13. Stella, 427
  14. Alba, 408
  15. Maja, 398
  16. Agnes, 373
  17. Alva, 367
  18. Leah, 350
  19. Hedda, 346
  20. Ebba, 340
  21. Mila, 322
  22. Luna, 319
  23. Lilly, 310
  24. Wilma, 303
  25. Iris, 300
  26. Ines, 291
  27. Juni, 290
  28. Alicia, 288
  29. Sigrid, 283
  30. Ellen, 254
  31. Ester, 251
  32. Leia, 248
  33. Nora, 244
  34. Majken, 242
  35. Lykke, 241
  36. Julia, 238
  37. Lily, 237 (tie)
  38. Molly, 237 (tie)
  39. Edith, 227
  40. Hilma, 224
  41. Elvira, 222
  42. Sally, 216
    • It’s so interesting to see Sally rising in Sweden. (It entered Sweden’s top 100 around 2013.) In the U.S., Sally has never made the top 50 — but it did come close in the late 1930s.
  43. Celine, 211
  44. Clara, 205
  45. Nova, 198
  46. Ingrid, 194
  47. Ilse, 190
  48. Livia, 189
  49. Bonnie, 185 (tie)
  50. Esther, 185 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 692 baby boys
  2. William, 574
  3. Hugo, 567
  4. Liam, 548
  5. Adam, 538 (tie)
  6. August, 538 (tie)
  7. Nils, 527
  8. Leo, 515
  9. Oliver, 514
  10. Otto, 491
  11. Sam, 490
  12. Alfred, 482
  13. Elias, 478
  14. Malte, 463
  15. Leon, 422
  16. Frans, 420
  17. Charlie, 404
  18. Ludvig, 396
  19. Ted, 377
  20. Theo, 376
  21. Valter, 375
  22. Olle, 371
  23. Gabriel, 347
  24. Arvid, 345
  25. Elliot, 343 (tie)
  26. Lucas, 343 (tie)
  27. Tage, 328
  28. Harry, 320
  29. Henry, 303 (tie)
  30. Theodor, 303 (tie)
  31. Björn, 291
  32. Ebbe, 285
  33. Vincent, 284
  34. Walter, 280
  35. Alexander, 277 (tie)
  36. Adrian, 277 (tie)
  37. Benjamin, 272
  38. Oscar, 264 (tie)
  39. Melker, 264 (tie)
  40. Elton, 260
  41. Jack, 259
  42. Noel, 258
  43. Axel, 251
  44. Kian, 244
  45. Viggo, 229
  46. Albin, 225
  47. Ivar, 224
  48. Lukas, 223
  49. Matteo, 218
  50. Julian, 217 (tie)
  51. Levi, 217 (tie)

In the girls’ top 10, Saga replaced Ellie.

In the boys’ top 10, Leo and Otto replaced Elias and Sam.

Four of the fastest-rising names were Celine and Junie (for girls) and Bo and Björn (for boys).

Lower down in the rankings I spotted…

  • Penny (65 girls)
    • Five more were named Pennie.
  • Tindra (23 girls) – means “to twinkle” in Swedish
  • Buster (10 boys)
  • Tintin (6 girls, 4 boys)
  • Texas (8 boys, 1 girl)
    • Three more boys were named Tex, Texan, and Texaz.
  • Grim (7 boys)
  • Tibelia (5 girls)
  • Fenrir (4 boys) – a giant wolf in Norse mythology
  • Figge (4 boys) – a nickname for Fredrik
  • Styrbjörn (3 boys)
  • Lioness (2 girls)
  • Valiant (2 boys)

And here’s a sampling of the thousands of names that were bestowed just once in Sweden last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Allikin, Borealis, Cindelle, Darshini, Eldfrid, Frigg, Gizi, Hafdís, Issoria, Javeline, Kiwi, Lupin, Majliss, Ninorta, Orchidée, Päivi, Ririka, Siglind, Tanangoo, Unnati, Vyllma, Wanyin, Yangkyi, ZeelineAlfrid, Brighter, Carwill, Dharav, Ejvind, Fafner, Gizmo, Hjälte, Imron, Jojje, Khangarid, Lindorm, Michigan, Nexus, Orchlon, Prodromos, Reijo, Sigsten, Thimmy, Ulve, Vigor, Wheffy, Yazn, Zirrar

Some definitions/explanations for a few of the above:

  • Allikin is the main character of the Swedish children’s book Allikin (1986) by Runo Lindskog.
  • Borealis is a Latin word meaning “northern.”
  • Frigg is a Norse goddess.
    • The word Friday comes from the Old English word frigedæg, meaning “Frigg’s day.”
  • Hafdís is an Icelandic name made up of elements meaning “sea” and “goddess.”
  • Hjälte means “hero” in Swedish.
  • Jojje is a diminutive of Georg, the Swedish form of George.
  • Khangarid is the Mongolian name for Garuda, a mythical bird-like deity in Hinduism and Buddhism.
    • The emblem of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, features a Khangarid.
  • Lindorm refers to a mythical snake-like creature in Nordic folklore.
  • Päivi is a diminutive of the Finnish name Päivikki, which is based on the word päivä, meaning “day.”
  • Prodromos is an Ancient Greek word meaning “forerunner.”
  • Unnati is a Sanskrit word meaning “ascending” or “advancement.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)

Popular baby names in the Czech Republic, 2024

Flag of the Czech Republic
Flag of the Czech Republic

Last year, the central European country of the Czech Republic welcomed about 84,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Eliška (for the 13th year in a row) and Jakub (for the 14th year in a row).

Here are Czechia’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Eliška
  2. Viktorie
  3. Sofie
  4. Anna
  5. Natálie
  6. Amálie
  7. Ema
  8. Tereza
  9. Laura
  10. Adéla
  11. Julie
  12. Rozálie
  13. Nela
  14. Mia
  15. Emma
  16. Karolína
  17. Barbora
  18. Sára
  19. Stella
  20. Anežka – the Czech form of Agnes.
  21. Veronika
  22. Marie
  23. Kristýna
  24. Meda
  25. Valerie
  26. Ella
  27. Klára
  28. Jasmína
  29. Štepánka
  30. Josefína
  31. Lucie
  32. Aneta
  33. Nina
  34. Magdaléna
  35. Zuzana (3-way tie)
  36. Ester (3-way tie)
  37. Beáta (3-way tie)
  38. Alžbeta (tie) – the Slovak form of Elizabeth.
  39. Elena (tie)
  40. Rozárie – the Czech form of Rosaria.
  41. Katerina
  42. Sofia
  43. Leontýna
  44. Liliana
  45. Gabriela
  46. Emily
  47. Amélie
  48. Adriana (3-way tie)
  49. Michaela (3-way tie)
  50. Stela (3-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Jakub
  2. Matyáš
  3. Jan
  4. Adam
  5. Matej
  6. David
  7. Vojtech
  8. Filip
  9. Dominik
  10. Tomáš
  11. Daniel
  12. Tobiáš
  13. Oliver
  14. Štepán
  15. Antonín
  16. Sebastian
  17. Lukáš
  18. Martin
  19. Ondrej
  20. Mikuláš
  21. Šimon (tie)
  22. Marek (tie)
  23. Samuel
  24. Jonáš
  25. Václav
  26. Petr (tie)
  27. Teodor (tie)
  28. Patrik
  29. Jirí – the Czech form of George.
  30. Tadeáš
  31. Kryštof
  32. Michal
  33. Viktor
  34. Vilém – the Czech form of William.
  35. Jáchym
  36. Eliáš
  37. Josef
  38. Richard
  39. Eduard
  40. František
  41. Albert
  42. Tobias
  43. Theodor
  44. Alex
  45. Pavel
  46. Kristián (tie)
  47. Damián (tie)
  48. Vincent
  49. Jindrich – the Czech form of Heinrich.
  50. Michael

The girls’ top 100 included Markéta (57th), Klaudie (68th), Nella (76th), and Bára (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Vít (55th), Robin (60th), Hynek (66th), and Kevin (81st).

Speaking of Kevin…Czech journalist Michal Kašpárek (who helped build an app based on Czechia’s baby name data) mentioned Kevin and several other non-Czech names during an interview with Radio Prague International last year. Some quotes:

  • Amélie: “Before the movie Amélie came out in 2001 about one girl a year in the Czech Republic was named Amélie. The year after there [were] 13, out of nowhere, and then the number doubled each year until reaching today’s 180 or so Amélies every year.”
  • Kevin: “Kevin became really popular after Home Alone came out, which was in the ’90s, when American names in general got more popular in the Czech Republic.”
  • Bob: “[O]ur data also shows that the first Bobs were showing up in the 1960s, possibly due to Bob Dylan.”
  • Amy: “There was also a big increase in the name Amy around that time that Amy Winehouse hit it big. That was a trend that didn’t stop after she passed away. Amy is still a really common name, and it hadn’t been before.”

I didn’t post about Czechia’s top baby names of 2023, but here are Czechia’s 2016 rankings.

P.S. Several Czech letters, such as R-with-caron and E-with-caron, don’t render properly on my site. So please imagine that they exist in several of the names above: the girl names Alžbeta, Katerina, and Štepánka, and the boy names Jindrich, Jirí, Matej, Ondrej, Štepán, and Vojtech.

Sources: Detským jménum loni opet kralovali Jakub a Eliška – Ceský statistický úrad, Eliška and Jakub remain most popular baby names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Jakub, Eliška… Kevin: App spotlights first names in Czechia – Radio Prague International, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Czech Republic (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ukraine, 2023

Flag of Ukraine
Flag of Ukraine

The country of Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe. It shares a border with Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice, the top baby names of 2023 in the center-west part of the country — the city of Kyiv plus five nearby oblasts (Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy) — were Mariya (Maria) and Yeva (Eva) for girls and Mark and Oleksandr (Alexander) for boys.

Here’s a visual of the area:

Map of Ukraine
Map of Ukraine

Below you’ll find the top names for each of the six locations. Rankings weren’t specified, so, in the tables below, I’ve written the names in the order in which they appeared in the news release.

Kyiv (city)

Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has a population of over 2.9 million. Here are Kyiv’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
City of KyivMariya
Solomiya
Yeva
Polina		Maksym
Mark
Tymofiy
Oleksandr
Danylo
Mykhaylo

The city’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Paulina, Oriyana, Yevdokiya, Klara, Vesna, Vedana, Dana, Astrid, Dzvinka-Iya, Sakhara, Oktaviya, Vohnena, Ariya, Afina-Penelopa, Yaruna, Dzvinka, Kylyna, Emmanuela, Ilariya, Mahda, Yustyna, Freya, Hlafira, Matilda, Iulianiya, Inha, Lili, Leonida, Zoreslava, Afina, Nefa
  • Boys: Zoreslav, Leslav, Yanislav, Veles, Ratmyr, Kyy, Lyutsyfer, Hraf, Korniy, Budymyr, Vir, Eney, Serafym, Yerofiy, Lyuksor, Elizar, Ioann, Harri, Adonis, Ares, Iliodor, Mars, Teo, Yan, Domian, Zevs, Hrey, Kay

Lyutsyfer and Lyuksor are the Ukrainian versions of Lucifer and Luxor, and Veles is the Slavic god of the underworld.

Kyiv Oblast

Kyiv Oblast has a population of over 1.7 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
Kyiv OblastDaryna
Zlata
Polina
Sofiya
Yeva
Solomiya
Anna		Tymofiy
Tymur
Maksym
Mark
Bohdan
Oleksandr
Dmytro

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Alisi, Luna, Snyezhka, Mane, Lisanna, Yesfir, Eluna, Virsaviya, Dominika, Roksana, Adel, Francheska, Armine, Slavyana, Yeremiya
  • Boys: Reyan, Leon, Karim, Sayan, Mikhey, Elman, Ruvim, Iliya, Teodor, Lavrin

Vinnytsia Oblast

Vinnytsia Oblast has a population of over 1.5 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
Vinnytsia OblastMilana
Anna
Daryna
Alina
Anastasiya		Oleksandr
Dmytro
Tymofiy
Denys
Andriy
Maksym

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Aviva-Svitantsvitayne, Infiniti-Marta, Nana, Ariella, Yesfir, Aya, Yevnika, Zarichna, Hloriya, Madonna, Vilena, Zhasmina, Daliya, Ayla, Dzhulyeta, Yustiniya, Liyel
  • Boys: Ruvym, Isaak, Kamil, Kimran, Yunus, Nikolos, Akim, Ernest, Ustym, Samuel, Vidar, Ilay, Ksavyer, Avel, Rozhden, Ioana

Svitantsvitayne appears to be an invented name based on the Ukrainian word svitanok, meaning “dawn.”

Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast has a population of over 1.27 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
Khmelnytskyi OblastAnastasiya
Anna
Viktoriya
Yeva
Zlata
Oleksandra
Solomiya
Sofiya		Artem
Bohdan
Vladyslav
Danylo
Mark
Matviy
Myroslav
Tymofiy

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Ayisha, Ameliya, Hoar, Eteri, Liliana, Miray, Tsvitana, Yaremiya
  • Boys: Bohomir, Yoan, Murat, Nektariy, Nikola, Nolan, Ovsiy, Radyslav

Zhytomyr Oblast

Zhytomyr Oblast has a population of over 1.21 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
Zhytomyr OblastAnastasiya
Anhelina
Daryna
Yeva
Milana
Solomiya
Tetyana
Yuliya		Bohdan
Vladyslav
Danylo
Dmytro
Zakhar
Yevhen
Ivan
Roman
Taras
Yaroslav

Zakhar is a form of Zacharias, and Taras is based on the Ancient Greek name Tarasios.

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Avreliya, Ahata, Ahnesa, Ahlaya, Ada-Mariya, Adel, Aymel, Alana, Aliche, Aliya, Amaliya, Ariel, Afina, Beatrysa, Versaviya, Vitsentina, Hnata, Ester, Zhasmin, Kamila-Rafaila, Kvitoslava, Laura, Nila-Ester, Samira, Teona, Tereza, Faustyna, Khafsa
  • Boys: Azmir, Alan, Artyom, Domyen, Elkhan, Ernest, Emmanuyil, Yehoriy, Zhdan, Ilay, Isa, Yonatan, Maverik, Matfyey, Monik, Myrolyub, Mukhammed Ali, Natan, Nikolas, Ostin, Ruvym, Savva

Myrolyub is made up of Slavic elements meaning “peace” and “love” — very good concepts to be focused on during wartime.

Cherkasy Oblast

Cherkasy Oblast has a population of close to 1.2 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2023:

Girl namesBoy names
Cherkasy OblastAnastasiya
Anna
Emiliya
Yeva
Zlata
Miya
Solomiya		Andriy
Bohdan
Zakhar
Maksym
Matviy
Oleksandr
Tymofiy

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Alisiya, Vlastelina, Dinara, Elzara, Zakariya, Luana, Muna, Ruta, Teona
  • Boys: Alim, Vakula, Dobrynya, Edem, Yeseniy, Zlatan, Ilay, Remus, Samedin, Yarem

Vakula is the protagonist of the short story “Christmas Eve” (1832) by Ukrainian-born Russian writer Nikolai Gogol (Ukranian: Mykola Hohol).

P.S. Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice released the top baby names of 2022 for Kyiv and each of the five oblasts, but not for the center-west part of the country overall.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ukraine (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Ukraine (1991-2014) location map by NordNordWest under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular and unique baby names in Sweden, 2023

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

Sweden tricked us, you guys.

Last year, Statistics Sweden ominously announced that it would “stop producing name statistics.”

It neglected to mention that the country’s baby name data would continue coming out every year — that the names were simply going to be handled by a different government agency (the Swedish Tax Agency) going forward.

I wanted to be annoyed about this deception, but my annoyance evaporated after I learned that the Swedish Tax Agency had released all of the country’s 2023 baby name data — meaning that we could finally check out Sweden’s rare and unique names (yay!).

So, without further ado, let’s take a look…

Sweden welcomed 100,051 babies in 2023. What were the most popular names among these babies? Vera and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Vera, 608 baby girls
  2. Elsa, 603
  3. Alma, 597
  4. Selma, 538
  5. Alice, 512
  6. Signe, 494
  7. Ellie, 490
  8. Olivia, 488
  9. Astrid, 470
  10. Ella, 467
  11. Stella, 447
  12. Maja, 442
  13. Freja, 434
  14. Saga, 426
  15. Alva, 415
  16. Agnes, 392
  17. Ebba, 381
  18. Leah, 375
  19. Alba, 365
  20. Hedda, 362
  21. Iris, 344
  22. Wilma, 341
  23. Ines, 339
  24. Alicia, 335
  25. Mila, 332
  26. Luna, 304
  27. Lilly, 292
  28. Sigrid, 288
  29. Elvira, 286
  30. Leia, 280
  31. Juni, 274
  32. Julia, 258
  33. Hilma, 256
  34. Clara, 253
  35. Majken, 242 (tie)
  36. Molly, 242 (tie)
  37. Ellen, 241
  38. Ester, 238 (tie)
  39. Lykke, 238 (tie)
  40. Lily, 236
  41. Nora, 232
  42. Ingrid, 226
  43. Nova, 223
  44. Edith, 205
  45. Livia, 204
  46. Sally, 203
  47. Lea, 198
  48. Tyra, 194
  49. Liv, 193
  50. Esther, 192

Boy names

  1. Noah, 687 baby boys
  2. Hugo, 652
  3. William, 565
  4. Liam, 558
  5. Nils, 536
  6. Oliver, 517
  7. Elias, 516
  8. Adam, 507
  9. August, 506
  10. Sam, 504
  11. Alfred, 485
  12. Otto, 479
  13. Leo, 463
  14. Leon, 415
  15. Frans, 414
  16. Charlie, 388
  17. Olle, 372
  18. Theo, 366
  19. Harry, 362
  20. Arvid, 351
  21. Ludvig, 350
  22. Malte, 345
  23. Ebbe, 338 (tie)
  24. Lucas, 338 (tie)
  25. Tage, 330
  26. Elliot, 327
  27. Henry, 326
  28. Adrian, 322
  29. Gabriel, 319
  30. Elton, 318
  31. Ted, 317
  32. Walter, 314
  33. Vincent, 296
  34. Alexander, 294 (tie)
  35. Oscar, 294 (tie)
  36. Valter, 293
  37. Benjamin, 282
  38. Noel, 274 (tie)
  39. Theodor, 274 (tie)
  40. Jack, 268 (tie)
  41. Viggo, 268 (tie)
  42. Axel, 264
  43. Albin, 256
  44. Melker, 251
  45. Levi, 240
  46. Isak, 236
  47. Dante, 233
  48. Lukas, 230
  49. Matteo, 226
  50. Hjalmar, 225

The top names of 2022, Astrid and William, dropped to ninth place and third place, respectively.

The boys’ top 100 included Ture (53rd), Vidar (55th), Loke (71st), and Bill (97th).

The girls’ top 100 included Tuva (66th), Stina (75th), Lo (78th), and Eira (81st).

Farther down on the girls’ list I spotted Madicken, which was given to 15 babies last year. Swedish author Astrid Lindgren featured a fictional 7-year-old girl named Margareta “Madicken” Engström in several of her children’s books. (Lindgren had named the character after a childhood friend, Anne-Marie, whose nickname was Madicken.)

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a sampling of the more than 8,000 names that were bestowed just once in Sweden last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Älva, Bergþóra, Cyrine, Dahlina, Elfie, Frigga, Glittra, Holland, Iseline, Jinjin, Källa, Lavendel, Minélle, Neoliva, Ornina, Pommelinn, Qellie, Rauline, Sigunn, Thaïs, Undin, Virvla, Winta, Xanne, Yrja, ZtellaAsterix, Bornwell, Casbian, Delton, Ejnar, Frenne, Grimm, Hälge, Ingemund, Jingda, Kasjan, Lillebror, Mjalton, Nille, Öivind, Palomino, Qingfeng, Robiel, Skjómi, Toste, Uzeer, Villie, Williott, Xanto, Yosia, Zillas

Some definitions/associations for a few of the above:

  • Glittra means “to glitter” in Swedish.
  • Källa means “source” in Swedish. (Originally it referred to a source of water, such as a spring or a well.)
  • Lavendel means “lavender” in Swedish (and several other languages).
  • Lillebror means “little brother” in Swedish.
  • Mjalton refers to Mjältön, an island in Sweden.
  • Skjómi, an Old Norse word meaning “a flickering light,” was used metaphorically in Skaldic poetry to refer to a drawn sword.
  • Virvla means “to whirl” in Swedish. (The related noun virvel means “vortex.”)

Sources: Elsa och Noah populäraste namnen hos nyfödda – Skatteverket, Namn på nyfödda – Skatteverket, Population statistics – Statistics Sweden, Madicken (Mardie) – Astrid Lindgren, Wiktionary, skjómi – Lexicon Poeticum, skjómi – Old Norse Dictionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)